Some of the country's biggest retailers plan to police their own industry through a national database that will blacklist staff sacked for stealing, forgery or fraud.

The National Staff Dismissal Register is expected to hold details of thousands of employees for up to five years even if they are not prosecuted.

It is expected to go live this month and organisers hope that it will also eventually cover the leisure industry, construction and road haulage groups. The move is the brainchild of Action Against Business Crime (AABC) - a partnership set up four years ago by the Home Office and British Retail Consortium.

HMV, Harrods, Littlewoods, Mothercare and Selfridges are among the retailers that have signed up. It is understood that Asda will also take part if JSainsbury agrees to do so.

Mike Schuck, AABC chief executive, said that the register was the best way for retailers to check if job candidates had been disciplined by a former employer. He added it would help to cut the industry's average £400 million a year loss through staff theft.

He said: “This isn't meant to target someone stealing £5 but those stealing thousands over a period of time. We are trying to police our own industry.”

Mr Schuck insisted that the register complied with the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Act but the move was immediately criticised by union leaders and human rights campaigners. Paul Kenny, General Secretary of the GMB, said: “The fact that the elite who run the companies who run the stores would even contemplate going down this road with the connivance of government shows how far public policy has drifted away from norms of fairness and due process.”

James Welch, legal director at Liberty, the human rights group, added: “This scheme appears to ride roughshod over safeguards in existing laws which determine when possible criminal activity should be shared with potential employers. Further, it does not seem to offer any right to redress for the falsely accused.”

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